Annual Events

A lit candle on a wooden surface with berries and a round object, against a plain background.

Worldwide Candle Lighting Memorial Service

Sunday, December 13 at 7p

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting on the 2nd Sunday in December unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for one hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon. As candles are lit on December 13th, 2026 at 7:00pm local time, hundreds of thousands of people commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon.

Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the annual Worldwide Candle Lighting (WCL), a gift to the bereavement community from The Compassionate Friends, creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone.

Doors will open at 6:30pm on December 13, 2026 at Christ Presbyterian Church for the Worldwide Candle Lighting.

To include your child in the TCF Marin video, please email a photo to Radha by Thanksgiving. Please include your child’s name and birth and death year. If your child is already in the video, no need to resend. Your child will always be there.

A woman with curly blonde hair giving a speech at a podium during an event with blue lighting and draped curtains in the background.

The Compassionate Friends Annual Conference

Summer

TCF's National Conference is an enriching and supportive event for many newer and long-time bereaved parents, grandparents, and siblings. Attendees come and find renewed hope and support, as well as strategies for coping with grief, all while making friendships with other bereaved people who truly understand the heartbreaking loss of a child, sibling, or grandchild. Lifelong friendships are often formed and rekindled each year at TCF conferences.